Assembly Required: The team developing our creator’s campus

How we built the team to convert three historic department store buildings into an inspiring campus for creators and innovators

About 8 years ago, I met Drew Ungvarsky at his office on Granby Street. Prior to walking through the front door of his historically renovated building, I didn’t know much about digital experience agency Grow. After meeting Drew, hearing Grow’s story, and checking out the website, it was clear this was a special company with great people, doing amazing work for international brands.

In the years that followed, Drew and I found passion projects within the community to work on together — like Selden Market, a retail incubator in Norfolk’s historic Selden Arcade; and ENJOY:, a non-profit event space that curates experiences in food, art, and culture. Each of those projects mixed vision, ingenuity, determination and an incredible team of collaborators to bring something special to life. And they’ve all helped shape the growing sense of energy here in Norfolk.

With a goal to create an even bigger impact, we decided to take on our largest project yet: Assembly, a home for creators and technology innovators, building a community while sharing inspiration and resources. A 96,000 sq. ft. historically restored building campus, the property consists of what used to be three distinct buildings, formerly home to Ames & Brownley, Sears, and Rice’s Fashion Corner over its 100 year history. The complex renovation is being done in two phases: the first phase being 43,000 sq. ft. with a rooftop penthouse and event space (currently under construction) and the remaining 56,000 sq. ft. in phase two with a planned commencement in 2023.

Even with our collective professional experience and the success of other passion projects, we knew an undertaking of this scale was a feat greater than any we had yet attempted. This begs the question, as it did in early 2019 when we started to imagine the effort: how do you pull off such an ambitious and massive project?

As we’ve learned in our previous projects, the answer is, of course, an exceptional team. Just as Assembly will bring the best creative and tech talent together, we had to build a team of experts to encompass the pillars of the project across design, finance, construction, and operations.

Design

We didn’t have to look far for exceptional design professionals. The talented team at Grow helped shape the vision for the project, and has driven the project’s branding, design and marketing, along with project management and other key support. (Special shoutout to Whitney!)

Assembly is located in a one hundred year old building, and it was important to us to honor its historic design and architecture. To help us do so, we selected WPA, a fellow downtown Norfolk business and former collaborators on Selden Market and other community projects. WPA’s use of technology to illustrate concepts and provide 3D virtual reality walkthroughs was essential as we worked through design and brought stakeholders and tenants into the project.

For interior design, we looked to Campfire & Co., a design firm out of Richmond with whom we had partnered on the ENJOY: project. They and WPA have brought the experience needed to deliver on the vision, while preserving the historical significance of the building.

The building has been through several major renovations, increasing its likelihood of structural complexities. WPA brought in Speight Marshall Francis for structural engineering and PACE Collaborative for mechanical, plumbing, and electrical engineering. They have helped us through the design, including the complexities presented by constructing the atrium to connect all of the spaces.

Assembly is an adaptive reuse project, leveraging state and federal tax credit programs intended for development and preservation of historic properties. To navigate the complex design compliance and regulatory process, we’re fortunate to have Commonwealth Preservation Group here in Norfolk, and they’ve kept us on track since day one — as they have with most of the region’s successful rehabilitations.

Finance

Financing for such an ambitious project is complex. While software platforms exist to help with financial forecasting, we found it most effective to build our own model so we understood each of the various inputs and drivers — including acquisition, renovation, tax credits, leasing and forecasted operating costs of a multi-functional building.

We are thankful to our lending partner, Atlantic Union Bank, for being a true partner and helping to establish our relationship and expectations early in the process.

Historic tax credit deals are unique and require specific accounting expertise. We chose to work with CohnReznick as our CPA firm for the forecasting work required. Our advisors at Kaufman & Canoles helped us navigate the real estate, construction, and tax credit legal work.

Construction

Assembly’s size necessitated an experienced construction manager to help us through planning, cost estimating, and a year-long construction process. We were fortunate to find a great team at Colliers International with significant adaptive reuse and historic tax credit project experience.

For general contracting, we sought a company with deep experience in large-scale projects, specifically historic renovations. We chose Clancy & Theys, who have worked with us through the pre-construction phase and our core and shell renovation. They have taken an enormous task, and are bringing the vision to life every day.

Operations

The core of Assembly’s operations center around efforts to establish a thriving community within the building, and connecting centrally to the region’s creative and technology industries. We’ve hired a full-time General Manager to lead the team.

For property management and leasing, we were again able to tap Colliers, and they’ll help us transition from development to ongoing operations.

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Amazingly, that’s not the full list of collaborators. Many other advisors have helped us along the way. The list is too long to cover, but special thanks to our friends at Marathon Development and Sherpa Commercial Real Estate for their invaluable guidance. And a massive shoutout to the City of Norfolk, from whom we purchased the building, and who have been great champions of the project since we first shared the idea.

Now the task is to take this sense of collaboration into the future of Assembly. Our vision is to accelerate the creative and technology industries in the Norfolk / Virginia Beach metro, and to plant a flag for our community that no one can miss. Sharing energy, inspiration, resources, and regular programming, we’ll create an environment to help aspiring companies go further, faster.

If you’d like to be part of Assembly or learn more, check out www.assemblynfk.com and reach out to us at info@assemblynfk.com.